Tangled Forever
by true girlie girl
Summary: Rapunzel's hair regains its magical trait giving her the power to live for centuries. There is only one problem: the hair never stops growing. A marriage vow is forever, and Eugene will have to become her new "Gothel". Will they go down as the next Romeo and Juliet with a haircut? ...don't worry, this is actually a very fun story (and Eugene will learn, this is a girls' club.)
1. A New Tower

_Author's note:_

 _Here is a sequel, for more hair fun, inspired by my 4-year-old daughter's reaction to the haircut and the never-ending discussion that followed. Enjoy!_

Rated T for underlying dark and mature themes.

Disclaimer: This is fan fiction written just for fun. Tangled is property of Disney. I do not own Tangled. I do not work for Disney.

* * *

I sometimes questioned whether my decision to shred her hair, taking all her power away, was the right decision. Maybe I shouldn't have taken away Rapunzel's fountain of youth. Maybe I should have asked for her permission first... wait, this is starting to sound weird. Let me start over. This is a fun story, I promise.

I gave Rapunzel a haircut. I was unfamiliar with the latest hair trends, not to mention inexperienced with cutting hair— I know, it's the worst thing a guy can do, but I wasn't expecting to live to face the consequences of my decision. However, I did survive. The last drop of magic was used to revive me and afterward, the magic was gone. Regardless of whether I had the right to do it or not, just consider, for a moment, the endless lineup of people who would try to use Rapunzel for the magic. With that, I convinced myself that yes, cutting off all the magical hair was the best decision I had ever made.

Rapunzel was never angry at me for what I did in that defining moment— not even for the death of her adoptive mother. But, I didn't mean to kill her. How was I supposed to know the mother was a few hundred years old? Have you ever heard of anything so freaky?

Anyway, Rapunzel forgave me for all of it. She loves me. She married me.

Rapunzel still sometimes missed her hair. Always wanting to fix all her problems, I suggested to her that she carry a rope around and just imagine that she still has all her long hair. She did as I suggested for a while, and as more time passed, I started seeing less and less of the rope. I believed she was starting to forget about the long hair.

Bliss.

However, within a couple of short years, my worst fear came true. The Queen, Rapunzel's true mother, died from an illness and Rapunzel didn't have the magic to save her. The Queen was buried next to the King who had passed away a short time earlier. The image of Rapunzel laying on her mother's gravesite, crying, burned in my eyes. And what happened next was something I had never even considered. The magical flower regrew on the gravesite. The roots seeped into Rapunzel's hair as she lay there and the magic traveled from the flower to her hair, instantly turning the hair a golden blonde colour. At that moment, the hair was still its short length, but now, it was slowly growing again.

Everyone praised her lovely hair and in time, the hair was soon touching the ground. I preferred her short hair, but Rapunzel wasn't allowing me to cut it this time. I promised her I wouldn't. But we did agree to keep its magical properties a secret.

We became occasional midnight superheroes, healing someone in secret, but overall we led a fairly selfish lifestyle. Thoughts of Rapunzel being hunted if the secret ever got out, gave me nightmares. The world was dangerous for her. I was determined to protect her.

. . . . .

Kingdoms fell but dancing prevailed.

Every problem disappeared when I was wrapped in Rapunzel's hair, her lips kissing mine. Our castle eventually became an apartment. There was a balcony and it was fun to call out to her, "Rapunzel, let down your hair," and climb in through the window where she greeted me with a kiss.

As the decades went on, we blended into society as it changed. I, somehow, made it through the world war without firing a single gun. Hopefully, I'll never have to touch another one again— those things are terrifying. Rapunzel seemed entertained by target practice and she was, to no surprise, a very good shot.

My next job was much more fun— strutting the runways of the fashion world. Photography definitely gets my nose right. We lived the good life for a while. Rapunzel would often nag me for not wearing my motorcycle helmet. But I assured her, as long as she is with me, it doesn't matter if I smash my head open because she can just heal me. As we traveled around, I always carried a large backpack on my shoulders containing a good portion of the hair. Maybe this was the reason Rapunzel liked to keep me around and I was happy to be useful. For as long as the hair was manageable, no one thought it was too strange. We were known as the couple with the hair fetish. We had lots of friends.

Over the years, I went to various schools and more recently when our travelling days were slowing down with the increasing weight of the hair, I started acting more like my age. I was doing the morning commute to the office, where I sat in front of a computer, crunching numbers and knocking back cups of coffee.

. . . . .

Yes, we knew how to have fun.

But I will share one thing with you— something that I normally don't like to talk about. When enough time passes, everyone has their low moment. Unfortunately, my day arrived. An irrational fear came over me that Rapunzel was leaving me.

I had shackles ready as I approached her. She stared at me in disbelief...

Ok, you can stop judging me now. I just didn't trust anyone else to protect her. I know I made a mistake. Do I have to be punished for it my whole life?

Oh.

Really?

My whole life?

Well, trust me, I felt guilty.

Don't worry. To this day, I have never hurt her. I didn't get too far before backing away and collapsing on the floor and don't tell this to anyone, I actually cried. It was a single brief moment but I would never forgive myself. I decided I was no better than anyone else who would use her for her magic. I ran away as fast as I could, knowing very well what my fate would be. Rapunzel found me days later, on the ground in the forest, a withering old man, and she restored my youth with the healing song.

Looking up at her, I still felt a deep sadness within but managed to crack a hint of a smile, "I've said this many times before, Blondie, I can't live without you— literally."

We stared at each other for a moment.

"But seriously, Rapunzel, don't be afraid to leave me. I will accept it."

Her kiss took me by surprise, sending my eyes wide open.

"Eugene, If you ever think about leaving me again, I will tie *you* up and lock you away in our room. Understand?"

Well, I couldn't argue with that. I should start making it up to Rapunzel by giving her what she wants, right?

And she wanted me.

. . . . .

Fast forward a century.

I will tell you, all those vampire stories are a lie. Life did not get boring; life only became more interesting and more fun as time went on.

We only ever had one problem: The hair was becoming too heavy to go anywhere. Rapunzel insisted that she's not giving up. We would have to settle in one place. Hiding seemed to be the safest option. I worried about my ability to keep her safe. We found a perfect hideaway, deep in a forest, within a mountain crack, a waterfall circling all the way around. The center was a beautiful courtyard that was open to the sky. We moved in with our robot pets.

It was comfortable living here. The pile of hair was my favourite pillow. The waterfall was our power generator, our drinking water and our shower. What more could one need? I never got bored of watching Rapunzel washing her hair under the waterfall. Along the cliff walls were lots of trees and places to suspend the hair. The hair became our swing, our hammock, our jungle gym - you name it, we had it. The waterfall kept our home secretly hidden. One would need to use an umbrella to enter and exit the place.

In many ways, it was like Rapunzel was back in her tower. She would spend her days dancing around the room, playing music, writing music, cooking, clean— am I allowed to say that? Uh... reading, programming and painting. The programs she wrote aided her music and art. The art she created was a gorgeous blend of traditional and digital media. She painted anything and everything and I enjoyed being her subject whenever she asked. Rapunzel was always happy despite being trapped by the crushing weight of the hair that was now too heavy to carry anywhere. I would venture out if we ever needed anything. I felt guilty that I had a freedom that she didn't. Sometimes, I would be gone for days at a time. I brought her lots of books, gadgets, craft supplies, movies, and anything else she wanted. I would do odd jobs, here and there, if we needed the money. Actually, our best source of income often came from selling Rapunzel's art.

. . . . .

The decades ticked on.

The guilty feelings I had within, continued. I couldn't help feeling that we would have to end this soon, maybe Romeo and Juliet style, except with a pair of scissors. OK, I never read Romeo and Juliet, but you get the idea.

Speaking of scissors, I was lost in thought one evening while holding a pair. Rapunzel was already asleep for the night. A strand of hair was over her eye. I had the habit of moving the hair away from her face, but doing this, I inadvertently woke her up. She looked at me suspiciously after glancing at the scissors in my hand. Her expression quickly changed to terror.

"What are you doing?" she asked nervously.

"It's not what you think," I assured her.

She didn't believe me and jumped out of bed and started running away. She made a poor attempt at gathering all her hair and struggled to run with it. I tucked the scissors into my belt for safe keeping. Rapunzel ran into the courtyard and stumbled over the hair causing herself to fall to the ground.

She was on the ground, crying, and continued screaming at me. "No! No, get away from me."

I approached her cautiously. I really didn't like scaring her.

"Rapunzel, how many centuries will it take for you to trust me?" I said jokingly with a smile.

She started calming. I continued to approach her. "Trust me, ok?"

I sat down in front of her. She wasn't fighting me anymore. Rapunzel's problem is that she trusted me too much. Unlike when Rapunzel makes a promise, my promises are negotiable. I didn't tell her my plan because I knew she wouldn't let me do it. Getting her to blindly trust me was just easier. Truthfully, I wasn't certain the plan would work and I was prepared for the end. She looked at me with sad eyes but made no attempt to push me away.

I tried to lighten the mood and smiled at her, "don't worry, it will be OK."

Rapunzel became very still. She was giving me complete control. Very slowly, I pulled out the scissors. Even more slowly, I brought the scissors to her hair. I started to cut the hair. She wasn't stopping me, so I continued cutting. As the magic was weakening, we were turning old before each other's eyes. She was still as cute as ever. She continued to look at me with sad eyes. I continued cutting the hair. My own hair was turning whiter and whiter with each cut. I was unwavering and kept on cutting. Rapunzel didn't move. I was approaching the end...

But, as I came to last thin clump of hair, I did not cut it. I tossed it aside and it was flying in the wind high above us.

Then I whispered in her ear, "Rapunzel, you need to sing now."

With the remaining small piece of long hair swirling around us, Rapunzel sang the healing song. We were instantly transformed once again to our youthful state.

It worked.

My heart was pounding so hard, my chest hurt. I could see Rapunzel gasping for air. We sat there in front of each other for a while, not moving, trying to catch our breath. After a few minutes, I continued to sit in front of her and started braiding the remaining piece of long hair. Even with our robots helping me, it took a long time to braid it. I was sweating. When we were finally finished, I rolled up the hair like a rope, stuffed it into the backpack and we resumed our nomadic lifestyle. We weren't sleeping that night.

. . . . .

What year are we in again?

Rapunzel wanted to study science and so she enrolled at the local university. I thought it was a great idea. And she certainly took her studies seriously. I admired the architecture of the building and I would often hang around the hallways of the school. The place had large state-of-the-art labs with multi-story high ceilings.

One day, as I was roaming the university halls, someone caught my attention. There is no harm in admitting that this girl was stunning— it's a plain fact that anyone can see. She walked over to me to inform me that I'm staring. I wasn't going to even try to hide it. She knows she's beautiful and she likes the attention she gets for it. This was all familiar to me.

"Just because I like to stare at you, doesn't mean I intend disrespect or that I'm looking for something."

She wasn't appreciating my flat tone. She continued looking at me, her black eyes were hypnotic.

"I've seen you around here before," she told me, "your girlfriend is the one who lives in the lab. You know, she's getting pretty friendly with the professor. You'd better keep an eye on her."

I was certain she was lying. It was obvious what she really wanted. I mean, I'm irresistible to women. I have this problem all the time. I wasn't falling for her tricks and I certainly wasn't falling into the jealous trap again, either. I made the decision long ago that if Rapunzel wants to leave me then I will live with that, I mean... not live with that... but she can live without me.

"Thanks for the warning. I'll keep it in mind." The sarcasm in my voice was probably obvious. I could tell the girl wasn't used to rejection as I watched her walk away.

. . . . .

A few weeks later...

I was alone in our apartment one evening. Rapunzel was working late at the lab which was becoming typical. It was getting really late and she still wasn't home. I found myself worrying and I was having trouble focusing on other things. I told myself, "don't be a possessive freak." My mind wandered. Maybe teaching Rapunzel it's ok to break a promise sometimes was a bad idea, remembering that a marriage vow counts as a promise. I decided to just go to bed. It took a while to fall asleep but soon enough I was waking up the next morning with a hangover.

It was a weekend morning and Rapunzel still wasn't home. There was no phone call, no message, she didn't return my message. I looked in the mirror and saw the aging was already showing. The magic was weaker since we downsized the hair. I needed more frequent boosts to maintain my youthful charm.

I decided I would just casually take a stroll to the lab, ask Rapunzel if I can get her some breakfast since I'm getting some for myself anyway and it's on the way. I would be just helping her out. After all, she's been studying hard... all night. Maybe she lost track of time. This doesn't make me a creep, right? Ah, who was I kidding? I think I surpassed creep status a long time ago.

I arrived at the building and ventured through some of the labs. I heard voices coming from a back room and entered the room, slowly. I saw Rapunzel in tears. The professor was there too. I felt disoriented by the scene.

Rapunzel looked at me. "Eugene, I'm so sorry. I lost the magic."

Her braid was gone... but, we were not rapidly aging. It meant the magic still existed somewhere at the same intensity as we had before. But where?

As I stood there, I vaguely recall hearing the professor saying something to the effect of "get rid of him. I still have the magic and I'll share it with you if you come with me."

I would have given up any fight if Rapunzel planned this and really didn't want me anymore. This guy freed Rapunzel from the hair which she would have wanted. But, to my surprise, Rapunzel stood by me.

She firmly shouted, "no," toward the professor.

I barely remember the fight that ensued.

The next thing I knew, the professor was dead and my eyes were splashed with an unknown chemical, completely blinding me. I was holding on to a ledge and I felt myself slipping. I couldn't sense the ground.

"Rapunzel! I can't see anything. I need your help! My vision, it's gone — it's completely gone. I'm falling. I need you, Rapunzel."

I felt a small hand pull me up.

"Rapunzel?" I asked, staring blankly outward.

The girl leaned in and kissed me. It's hard to be mad at a kiss, but I wasn't fooled for one second. I pleaded with the girl. "If you know where Rapunzel is, please, take me to her. Please."

She took my hands and led the way. I knelt down beside the unconscious girl. I felt her face. It was definitely Rapunzel. I determined she would be fine if only I could get the magic back. I turned toward the sound of the mystery girl.

"Thank you— for saving my life."

"Actually, you were hanging off a ledge that is about three feet off the ground," she said, playfully mocking me. "But, I will help you reach that box up there. Inside, is a flower which holds the magic that you're looking for. I need your help to reach it. Give me a boost and I will get it down for you."

I had a bad feeling about this but I had no hope of reaching the box myself in my current state so I followed her lead. Just as we approached what I assumed to be the top, I felt her pushing me away and making a sudden move in the opposite direction. I hated that it was coming down to this. I pulled her back and raced ahead in the direction that I sensed she was moving. I was feeling around for a box and came across one that opened easily. I reached inside searching for the flower and to my surprise, I picked up two potted flowers. I was admittedly very clumsy without my sight and at that moment, I lost my balance and fell holding both flowers.

Luckily, one pot was safe. The other flower smashed against my head... but don't worry, my nose wasn't broken. The pot broke apart against my hair, instantly changing its colour to a golden blond as the magic trickled in. It became obvious that my hair contained the magic now. As the magic entranced me, my vision was healed and my youth was restored.

The girl jumped down in front of me, confirming my suspicion that she was the same girl who was stalking me earlier. She glared at me.

I tossed the remaining potted plant to her. "A flower for you, my lady."

"Really? Just like that? You're giving it to me," she said, looking skeptical. "Why not give it to your princess over there? When was the last time she got a flower from you?"

"I'll take care of Rapunzel. The magic in my hair can be used by both of us. I don't need the flower."

She paused. "I'm still trying to decide whether that is the most romantic or the most selfishly possessive thing I have ever heard." She continued, "but thank you for the generous gift and I'm sorry I tried to steal it from you earlier."

"Yeah, the flower has a tendency to bring out the worst in everyone."

She gave me a smile. "You know, you may not be trapped with your hair forever. This flower actually belongs to Rapunzel. The box was stolen from her by the professor. Rapunzel created the flowers. It was all her experiment so she will be able to extract the magic from your hair."

It should have been a relief to hear this, but instead, my heart was breaking into a million pieces. Why did Rapunzel feel the need to make *two* flowers?

"Just take the flower," I told the girl.

As the girl was walking away, she turned back to me, "I never did get your name."

"My name is Flynn Rider."

I watched the girl leave while wondering how often she uses her face to steal something. As soon as she was gone from my view, I dove to Rapunzel's side. I decided to carry Rapunzel home to wake her in a less chaotic environment.

Back at our home, I laid down beside Rapunzel so I could touch my newly blond, but still short, hair to her. I sang the healing song as I lay next to her.

She woke.

She sat up looking nervous and confused. "The magic... it's in your hair now?"

"Yeah, I know, fashion-wise this will be a huge problem. But on the bright side, it just started growing so we have lots of time."

"We?" she asked in nervous hesitation.

My eyes grew and I looked her right in the eye, "Rapunzel, I've said this many times before, I can't live without you. If you're not coming with me, I'll be shaving my head."

She jumped up and gave me a kiss. My eyes went wide— she still has that effect on me. She glanced up at my hair and put her fingers through it. As she was looking at my hair, she was giggling to herself and trying very hard to hide it.

"You know, Eugene, when I was working in the lab, I learned... uh, I... uh...nevermind. It's not important."

I studied her eyes carefully for a while. I came to my conclusions: It's ok; she can keep secrets from me. Rapunzel can have her way with me. She can punish me for a thousand years— I will enjoy every minute of it. Let my sentence begin! If she ever hurts me too bad, I will have my magic hair to heal myself.

. . . . .

A few months later...

My hair was a few inches longer now. The magic was weaker after being split, but Rapunzel insisted it can be cut down a few more times before the magic becomes too weak. I figured she knew what she was doing. She cut off all my hair leaving only a thin braid hidden behind my ear on one side. And she was right; there was still more than enough magic remaining for our purposes.

And I finally decided to wear that motorcycle helmet. One day, I found Rapunzel sitting on the bike, waiting for me, with no helmet. "Blondie, you rebel!"

I got on the bike behind her. "So Blondie, what's our next adventure?"

"I have a few ideas," she answered and with a mischievous smile on her face, she twisted the handle. I felt my braid fluttering in the wind as we accelerated.

We are still living happily ever after.

* * *

The story continues in Chapter 2!

Thank you for reading! I'd love to know your thoughts.


	2. Eugene's tower

_It's Flynn's turn!_

 _Thank you to everyone who is reading. All reviews are very much appreciated!_

Rated T for suggestive themes.

Disclaimer: Tangled is property of Disney.

* * *

This is the story of my difficult life as a prisoner, and a slave, forced to perform questionable acts of... kidding. I'm kidding! This is a fun story, I promise.

What?

That sounded like it was going to be a fun story?

Maybe I'm becoming more conservative in my old age. Ok then, the story is not that much fun, but still fun.

Actually, what I started to describe was pretty much how the story went except my life wasn't difficult. My captor was my wife and she treated me very well. Rapunzel and I have been married for centuries. How many years exactly? I've honestly lost count but it's a good thing that she's not into celebrating anniversaries either. When you've been married as long as we have, things like that become meaningless.

. . . . .

What year are we in again?

With the magic held in my hair, my turn in the tower had come. Well, it wasn't exactly a tower. We found an abandoned underwater ocean castle and turned it into our home. The ocean currents generated our power and brilliant technology kept the oxygen flowing throughout the place. As before, for the hair to hold the magic, it could not be cut. I kept the magical piece in a braid. The braid was a thin strand, hidden behind my ear, so I still looked like a boy. But, the hair was long enough and heavy enough to keep me chained in one place. Yes, that's right, I looked like a boy with my boyish good looks. The hair keeps me young forever. I was still as pretty as ever.

Rapunzel and I both depended on the magic to keep our youth. The aging progressed at a noticeable rate without a daily boost. Although, we weren't afraid to see each other at our worst — after all, that's what marriage is all about — however, most of the time we kept ourselves in our most youthful state. Each day, Rapunzel would lay me down on her lap, run her fingers through my hair, and I would sing the special song to her. I enjoyed it very much. Of course, I fulfilled any other husbandly obligations that were requested of me. She could really keep me busy...

Uh... what else did I want to say?...

So anyway, my hair was probably still semi-transportable. We might have been able to take the occasional road trip if we had a truck large enough. However, there was another reason we were hiding. I may have been a little more careless with the secret since the magic came into my hair than when Rapunzel had the magic. But, I mean, I can take care of myself. Slowly, over time, a legend had spread about someone named Flynn Rider, who holds the fountain of youth in his hair. We had reason to believe I was being hunted so we went into hiding sooner than expected.

Rapunzel had admitted to me, as I had long suspected, that she knows how to extract the magic from my hair. She explained that she wanted to keep it in my hair because she thought the magic was safer with a strong man rather than inside a fragile flower. She wanted to find a better way to secure the magic rather than in the original flower form. She thought she was close to finding the answer and promised that she would free me soon; however, soon is a relative term.

I had made it clear to her: there was no rush which was the honest truth. I was perfectly content. It was a paradise where we were living with fountains, lavish swimming pools, theatres, concert halls, ballrooms and game rooms. As with the last time we were forced into isolation, the only thing the place lacked was good lines of communication. But, like I needed that. I wasn't going anywhere anyway.

There was, however, one big difference from the last time we were in isolation: we weren't isolated at all. Rapunzel had lots of friends — mostly girlfriends — and she actually invited them over to our place. I was feeling guilty about my inability to maintain outside friendships without her, leaving her alone in the past; however, Rapunzel told her guests that I was her pet and that she kept me tied up because I was misbehaving. They all thought it was cute and this was somehow acceptable. Can you imagine if I gave that explanation to people? It's a double standard that is very unfair to men.

We still carefully concealed our secret from everyone we knew. People were more like acquaintances, sometimes paid entertainers, rather than very close friends. Our parties were usually small, quaint affairs, but there were a lot of them. Our place was always lively with music and dancing — we actually used the concert halls and ballrooms.

. . . . .

I still had my alone time since Rapunzel went out often. But, I didn't mind the time alone. Sometimes, we all just need time to think. Time spent alone is good for everyone. I spent most of my time on math theorems, building robots, the occasional video game and yes, I did all of the housework.

At home, Rapunzel liked to tinker in her lab, but her attire whenever she went out suggested to me that she didn't work in a science lab. Rapunzel was heading out on a typical evening. She was unusually tall. I looked down at her feet.

"I thought you didn't like shoes. How can you walk in those?" I asked out of curiosity.

She insisted this is what every girl wears now a days. Lately, Rapunzel had been accumulating a collection of shoes and her only canvas these days, was her face. Looking at her, I couldn't help fantasize about being inside her... what? She's my wife.

Rapunzel was always secretive about where she worked or what type of work she did for that matter. She was certainly not short on money— she had piles of it. She was also happy to share all of it with me. Rapunzel said she would buy me anything I wanted. Although, I really didn't need a lot and my requests were fairly simple.

I had always felt like it was my job to protect her, ever since the first day we met, when she trusted me to take her out of the tower. I must have had an obvious worried expression on my face, one evening, as Rapunzel was getting ready to leave.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," she said. "Besides, you have the magic that can heal me, remember?" she added with a light laughter.

"That's if you make it home."

"I will," she assured me.

"The magic can heal, but it can't erase memories."

She kissed me. "Don't worry. I'll be home."

With that, she left and I was alone once again with just my thoughts.

"I've got a dream...hmm, hmm, hmmm... tanned and rested and *alone*, surrounded by enormous piles of money..." I wasn't exactly on an island and didn't have the best tan, but I kept lots of plants and UV lamps in every room; the ocean was an acceptable substitute. My past dream was certainly not my dream anymore. Rapunzel was still my dream.

But I didn't have to worry. Of course, she'd be home. She depended on the magic. There was always that little voice, deep inside, that asked would she still come home if she didn't need the magic, but I had learned to suppress negative thoughts like that. There was no doubt that Rapunzel had similar thoughts when the tables were turned.

I still felt completely powerless in my ability to protect her being stuck in the castle. If Rapunzel was ever in trouble, I couldn't be there to help her. OK, I've often done a poor job of protecting her so I have learned to let go. I have realized that she can take care of herself. She seemed confident in what she was doing. One thing for sure, she would never be unloved and objectified— because I wasn't going anywhere.

She would be home.

. . . . .

Except there was the day she didn't come home...

Rapunzel was away for too many days. She would need the magic. I was panicking. A knock at the door always startled me when Rapunzel wasn't home. Someone was knocking. Hesitantly, I went to answer the door. A girl was standing there with a letter in her hand. She was delivering a message from Rapunzel. It was a hand written letter in an envelope— I couldn't help smile. What century was Rapunzel living in? But, I was guilty of falling into old habits and holding onto old technology myself.

I opened the letter:

 _To my flower,_

 _I'm so sorry that I left without telling you. Please don't worry, I am safe. You MUST wait for me. I will see you again - I PROMISE._

 _I've discovered that our magic is not unique. I've met someone who has a fountain of youth in a flower very similar to the original source of our magic. Her name is Felina Rydell and she's a space traveller! She's not quite as old as us but old enough that it wouldn't be weird if we were dating! She has been to far away planets and she may know of a material with properties that I've been searching for. She is sharing her magic with me as we go on our quest to find the answers we need to store the magic outside the flower. I'm so sorry to leave you for a while but it's very important that I do this. Please don't be mad at me._

 _I'm sending a few friends to help you while I'm away. They will take good care of you - I PROMISE._

 _Yours forever and always,_

 _Rapunzel_

I felt myself go cold.

Now, I wonder where this Felina girl got magic like that?...

In case you don't remember, I may have given away one of the flowers that held the magic. She had to be the same girl, I was certain. My mind was racing. That couldn't be her real name. For a brief moment, the thought of Rapunzel leaving me for the girl version of my alter ego had crossed my mind. Although, as far as I knew, Rapunzel still had never, ever, broken a promise. I definitely trusted Rapunzel's words in the letter and knew that Rapunzel meant well. It was the other girl I did not trust. That girl tried to kill me! Well, maybe unintentionally because she probably didn't know that I was a few hundred years older than her, but still, she almost killed me! Rapunzel was now depending on her and I felt incredibly nervous.

I paced back and forth for a while. I was powerless at this point. Things were beyond my control. Freaking out wasn't going to solve anything, but I was freaking out. I sat with my notebook for a while, gliding my pen over it, playing with the pressure and tilt, while jotting down some notes. I managed to calm myself down. There was nothing that needed to be done now, except wait.

. . . . .

I waited.

Soon enough, there was another knock at the door. I was less afraid to open the door this time. To no surprise, it was another girl— a few of them, actually.

"Are you Eugene? Rapunzel sent us here. She says you may need some help," the girl told me.

Before I could even answer, they invited themselves in. They all seemed to have different colour hair.

Blue hair.

Purple hair.

Green hair.

Pink hair...

The one with the sparkling white hair and ice blue eyes told me her name is Wiki and that she can tell me anything I want to know. Was she a human or a computer? I could not tell. She appeared to be programmable.

Another came over to talk to me. My eyes dropped a little lower. I know, I'm very bad. This girl's shirts must have been custom made. She told me she really likes to eat cupcakes. They certainly didn't go into her waist.

The girl with the long rainbow pony tail, wearing translucent clothes, leaned in really close. "Is there anything I can do for you?" she asked me in the most casual voice.

"I'm fine," I replied.

"If you think of anything, let me know. I will be here for you."

Where did Rapunzel find these girls?

Another girl, the only one with wings, was wearing a white dress and she moved about in an angelic way. There was a mystery about her with her yellow hair always flowing over her eyes, covering them completely. This just drew attention to her very nice mouth.

I glanced over at one of the fountains. Was that a mermaid tail?

Who were these girls? They had never been to our place before and I found myself wondering why. Rapunzel never failed to surprise me and this certainly did it again. It's ironic that her distrust for me was greater when I was alone than with a bunch of seductive looking girls. I mean, I wasn't going to hurt myself but Rapunzel wouldn't always believe me, even though I promised, a number of times, that I wouldn't. I was feeling very confused. I had no interest in having servants and Rapunzel would know that. I could understand needing someone to fetch my groceries and maybe one other person to be on suicide watch if that really concerned her, but why on earth would she send a dozen girls to invade my home?

A few of the girls started playing with my hair and giggling over it. Rapunzel had explained to them my odd obsession with hair and they assured me that they are not judging.

"We all have our peculiar fixations. We completely understand," one of the girls told me.

They started sharing some of their thoughts. Considering their age, the fantasies and ideas they had were... interesting.

The introductions continued.

"You seem tense. Can I give you a massage, Flynn?"

"Huh?"

"Eugene, can I give you a massage?"

I stared at her eyes. Was I hearing things? Yes... yes, I tried to reassure myself. My heart was racing. "That's a very lovely offer, but no thank you."

She smiled at me, "you need to relax."

"I'm fine."

The afternoon started to turn into evening— and serving me colourful drinks in fancy glasses was just going too far:

"I appreciate your kind assistance, but I'm fine."

She either didn't understand or pretended not to.

"No thank you," I repeated.

She wasn't accepting no for an answer.

I just shook my head to indicate no, only to be met by a blank stare.

"Ok, but only one."

After the fifth drink, I found out that she is able to speak.

As their offers continued, I was starting to sound like a broken record.

What?

No one uses that expression anymore? I still have some of those, you know. You've never heard of a record player?

Anyway, what I was trying to say is that I was repeating myself because the girls didn't seem to understand that when I said no, I meant no.

"I appreciate the lovely offer, but I'm fine..."

"That's very nice of you, but no thank you..."

"Don't worry, you can still keep all the money Rapunzel is paying you. I don't need anything."

"No thank you..."

"No..."

I don't remember the rest of that evening. I must have blacked out at some point.

The magic fixed my headache the next morning.

I woke up only to find that the girls had already moved in and made themselves right at home. They sure didn't waste any time. All their pets, dressed in frilly bows, had also moved in. I had no idea how long Rapunzel planned to be away. The girls were always in my personal space wanting to be helpful.

They infiltrated every room of the castle. They rummaged through our archaic music collection; reorganized our library; entertained themselves with the musical instruments which they played very well; they would pull me into their ballroom dances— the winged girl threw me really high; and I occasionally found one of them in Rapunzel's lab:

"Did Rapunzel say it was alright to be here?" I asked knowing that Rapunzel would probably not be happy about this.

"Oh yes, she told us to make ourselves at home," the girl assured me.

"Rapunzel rarely lets anyone come in here."

"I was just curious," she said glancing up at me with her innocent looking, downturned eyes, and seemingly unaware that both the straps on her lacy top had slipped off her shoulders.

"Just, be careful," I said.

"I'm just reading. I promise, I won't touch any of the setup," she assured me again.

"Sure," I said and then left her alone.

. . . . .

Their antics continued for months.

As time went on, I started to trust the girls more and more. Having them here was certainly better than being alone. Although, they were a very bad influence on me. I don't remember many nights, only horrifying mornings. The girls insisted that Rapunzel was cool with it, but they swore they would keep me faithful if that's what I wanted. I had to take their word on that.

I still missed Rapunzel every day. I had not received any further messages from her since that first letter. I confided in the girls often about how much I missed Rapunzel and about my fears as to where she had gone. They were very understanding. The girls would comment on how sweet my love for Rapunzel is and they acted mesmerized by it. You'd think that talking about Rapunzel all the time would disenchant them but it just drew them in closer. They promised me that I would see her again. I wasn't sure if they really knew where Rapunzel had gone but they would reassure me as if they knew very well. I trusted them. Maybe it was because the girls were telling me everything I wanted to hear, but I decided to trust them entirely. They were very good at helping me relax.

. . . . .

The months went on.

One day I woke up to a completely empty place for the first time since the girls moved in. The silence was unusually refreshing. The pool was also empty. I could take a swim without the nymphs trying to drown me. Although, they had transformed the place into some kind of mystical swampland. As I started to feel more awake, I strolled into the kitchen. It was stocked like a grocery store display with all sorts of decadent things. I decided to pick an apple for my breakfast— but it was a very nice apple. I sat for a while scratching down notes in my notebook.

The silence was short lived. The girls all suddenly rushed into the place.

"We're under attack. We need to leave, now!"

At least, they were more conservatively dressed. But their weapons were terrifying— I wasn't touching those. Before I could even begin to explain my issue with leaving, they were rolling up the hair and stuffing it into many large backpacks. They seemed to have everything under control so, I was packing my notebook.

Are you making fun of me?

You think I haven't been places all those years? I've been to some strange places. I've seen things— strange things. It's all in my notebook. If you get deep enough into this, trust me, it will not get boring. You haven't seen things until you've learned enough math.

I'd also learned over the centuries that appearances can be deceiving. I trusted the girls. In no time, they all had their backpacks, full of my hair, strapped on; and their kittens, or skunks or I don't know what kind of animal, on their shoulders; and they pushed me out the door. Living under the ocean for over two hundred years, I had not been practicing my fighting skills. I was like a delicate flower, leaving the tower for the first time. Except, there wasn't time to stop and smell the flowers. We were on the run. I was still captivated by the futuristic sights. Everything was new to me.

Well, I'll let you use your imagination on what happened next. But it was some adventure escaping my attackers, chained to an army of cute, colourful girls all in a single file line. It was comical— I felt like I was in an animated movie.

Although, throughout our journey, I did feel nervous that keeping the magic a secret would become difficult while being so closely tied to the girls. The test came when one of the girls was struck down. In that moment, I picked up her backpack, put it on my shoulders, and I carried her in my arms as we all continued to run. We eventually found a safe hiding place. The girl I was holding was bad off. I held her closer. My mind was racing as the rest of the group stood around us.

"I need you to leave us alone," I told the other girls. "Please, you have to trust me. We need to be alone."

They respected my request and they all dropped their bags and left me alone with the injured girl. I was able to heal her in secret. Strangely enough, none of the girls asked any further questions about what happened or how the girl was suddenly healed. My secret was safe.

We camped out for days while on the run. Eventually, it appeared the worst was over. The girls let their guard down. Of course, I trusted them. They hadn't failed me yet so I always followed their lead. They told me Rapunzel was waiting for me and that they would reunite me with her. Rapunzel was apparently waiting in the sky city so we got on board a small plane — very futuristic looking to me — one I had never seen before. Soon enough, we were off to the sky city.

. . . . .

Unknowingly, we were being followed.

As we got near the sky city, it became evident that we were hijacked midair. I came face to face with my attacker. I was facing an eternity of torturous imprisonment as the man told me he wants the magic and will do whatever it takes to get it.

He spoke to the girls. "Hand over Rider to me," he said in a calm voice.

We all stood there frozen for a while. I glanced at the girls but I couldn't read their expressions. After a moment, they signaled something to each other. I watched in defeated horror as all the girls dropped their backpacks and began to step away from me. I felt the one standing beside me squeeze my hand and then let go.

"Flynn Rider is yours," she said to the man.

I didn't want to believe it. The man gave one of the girls handcuffs indicting what he wanted her to do. She walked back to me with intention of locking my hands. I completely surrendered to her. I felt her delicate hands take mine and guide them around to my back. I still couldn't feel anger toward her despite the betrayal. She clipped the cuffs around each of my wrists, tying my hands behind me. I guess chaining me to any other post wasn't necessary because I was already chained down by the hair. She then walked away from me, to rejoin the group of girls.

"Way to work it, sweet cakes," the man told her, grabbing her provocatively as she walked past him. "I can find you more jobs if you need to keep busy," he added.

All the girls had their hoverboards ready and were heading for the exit. This appeared to be the catastrophic end for me.

I was thinking about Rapunzel. I was remembering the time when the magic was in her hair. The fears I had for her, that haunted me for centuries, were now my reality. This was the reason I was so careful with the secret back then. This was the underlying reason I never dared to tell anyone about our home in the mountain. This was the reason I cut off all her hair in the first place — so people wouldn't have any incentive to lock her up. Even in my darkest moment when I thought about locking her up myself, it was to make certain that revolting men like the one I was facing could never do it first.

It didn't matter what would happen to me. At the very least, I would know that Rapunzel was free from the hair and that this kind of enslavement would never happen to her. Wherever she was, even if she was dead, she was free of the hair. I found a strange peacefulness. Images of Rapunzel continued to flash in my mind. I saw a sharp edge within my reach. It would be so easy— I could just end it now. I had the braid in my hand. But, remembering that Rapunzel's letter said I must wait for her, I couldn't bring myself to do it. However, there was a good chance Rapunzel was dead. If she wasn't, she had another source of magic. She hadn't needed me for months. Wherever she was, she didn't need me anymore. She would never be able to find me anyway. I put the braid against the sharp edge. I glanced at the girls. They all had their gaze locked on me and they all stood together holding hands. I hesitated to follow through again. They all looked at me as if they needed me. Nonsensically, I wanted to believe that they were still my friends. I remembered Rapunzel's hand written letter which I knew was her own writing. Rapunzel had made a promise in that letter. I couldn't find the will to cut the braid.

Then, it was as if some celestial forces were reading my mind while I was thinking about Rapunzel. A brief moment later, I got a glimpse of her! This wasn't going to be a Romeo and Juliet ending yet. Although, that was pretty close. In that moment, I saw Rapunzel! She was on a hoverboard! But, obviously new to the sport. I was overwhelmed with feelings of relief that she was safe — at least for now. The girl who calls herself Felina, wearing a leather vest over top a collared shirt and tall boots looking very feminine in short pants, skated along confidently pulling Rapunzel along. This girl was armed and looked dangerous. I had to remind myself that this was a serious situation because I was about to burst out in laughter watching Rapunzel try to ride a hoverboard. I had to avoid letting my eyes wander too much so not to draw attention to them. They winked at each other and Rapunzel quietly took her place among the girls, hiding in plain sight. I had no idea what they planned to do. I was completely thrown off guard when Felina swiftly came at me, with eyes sharper than the blade she was wielding, cutting through my hair. In shocked sadness, I saw all the trooper girls rapidly turning old.

"No!" I instinctively screamed as I reached out to them. I wanted to save them, but the magic was gone.

Rapunzel was the only one standing among the group who wasn't rapidly aging. Realizing only then, the girls must have been using my magic somehow. Rapunzel wasn't aging because she hadn't been using my magic as her source for some time now. Of course, I was rapidly aging myself with the cutting of my braid. I reached out to Rapunzel. However, instead of rushing to my side, Rapunzel pulled one of the girls by the hand and, in a line, they all jumped out together through the open doorway. Well, those girls were pretty cute. Could I blame Rapunzel for choosing them over me? The girls twirled in a circle around Rapunzel in a kind of synchronized air dance and Rapunzel was transforming them back to their youthful state.

I was left face to face with Felina. It had been a few centuries since I first met her and, to no surprise, she hadn't aged one bit. The man was still near and he was in shock from the rapid aging taking place and realizing the magic was disappearing. As if I wasn't dead enough already, he started shooting at us. Felina fired back with a gun she had in one hand. She gave me a cold-hearted, expressionless stare straight into my eyes and forcibly pushed me out the open door with her free hand. I was plummeting toward my untimely death, turning ghost white.

Thankfully, Felina was well practiced on her hoverboard and wasn't going to let me fall. She dove after me head first, spinning faster than ever, accelerating down towards me. She slowed my descent while catching up to me and finally caught me in mid air. Then, in some mysterious motion, pulled me in really close and ran her hands over me whispering the song into my ear in a soft melodic hum. Instantly, my youthful beauty was restored. It's a good thing the magic fixed heart attacks as well. I don't know why she had to show off so much. Seriously, who on Earth shows off that much?

Anyway, by that point, I knew I could trust Felina.

"How is it possible?" I asked, still confused by how she made the magic work.

"I owed you a favour," she replied. "Rapunzel has a gift for you."

I managed to pull myself to a stand on the board and held on to her from behind while she started to descend.

Rapunzel was having way too much fun with the train of girls pulling her along on the hoverboard. I could see this becoming her new favourite sport. Felina glided her board along beside Rapunzel's and nudged me toward her. I jumped across from one board to the other which Rapunzel was riding. In doing so, I caused both myself and Rapunzel to come crashing down. Luckily, we were already very near to the ground.

I held Rapunzel tightly. "I was terrified, I'd never see you again," I said in almost a whisper and starting to tear up.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." She was covering my face in kisses. "I'm sorry that I had no way of contacting you while I was away. You'll understand why in a moment." She reached into her pocket.

"I have something for you," she said.

She put a ring on my finger. "The stone has the ability to hold the magic. I had to travel to outer space to get it."

Rapunzel had her own matching ring on her finger. I paused for what felt like a long time, lost in thought. It was a strange feeling to be separated from her, even though she was physically right in front of me, after months of being apart. I spoke honestly, "it's the most thoughtful and beautiful gift, and I know it took a lot of effort to get it, but I will admit a strange irony I feel: I've never felt more separated from someone who is putting a ring on my finger." I was doing a poor job of hiding a disappointed expression. "Why do we need *two* rings?" I asked.

"Eugene, we will be together forever. It's good to have a spare. Remember when you lost your wedding ring?"

"And I'm grateful you forgave me so easily for that."

We laughed at the memory.

"Is marriage still a thing?" I asked.

"Yes, I think so. Although, multi-partner arrangements are becoming trendy these days," she answered.

"Regardless, I'm an old fashioned guy... except, don't tell anyone. I have a fake reputation to maintain."

"You're still playing that game? Well, your secret is safe with me," she laughed, "and, don't worry, I'm not interested in having two husbands."

"For as long as you won't be upgrading to zero, I'll be happy."

"I think one is a good number," she assured me.

I stared at her realizing that my love for her only grows stronger as time goes on. I looked at the ring again with admiration. The new wedding ring is even more valuable than the last— I think I'll be keeping this one. I looked at Rapunzel, "So this is official then?... I do."

Rapunzel jumped up to give me a kiss, sending my eyes wide open. "I do," she mirrored back at me.

I decided I can get used to this. I may not be a guy that she *needs*, but I'm definitely a guy that she *wants*.

. . . . .

And, this story has a happy ending so, although I'm not sure what happened to the villainous man, I never saw him again.

And as for the girls, they never failed me, as Rapunzel had promised. Their apparent betrayal was just their stall tactic. And yeah, those girls were not as young as they looked. Apparently, I've sung the song so many times, I do it in my sleep. So, the girls had no reason to mention that they needed the magic. I know! They were stealing my magic without my permission— I feel so violated and used. Why they didn't just tell me, is beyond me. I would have easily shared it with them. But they are very protective of their secret.

Felina approached me with something to tell me. "I wanted to thank you again for the gift you gave me many years ago. I owe my life to you," she said.

"I have a long history of doing foolish things for girls... and a girl deserves no less," I replied with a defeated sounding voice.

"And that's why I knew I could trust you to take care of my family," she said.

"I think it's the other way around. The girls took care of me."

She stared at me with a smoldering look in her eyes. "You're almost as pretty as a girl," she told me.

"Uh... I'll take that as a compliment."

She smiled and then started to say her goodbyes. "If you ever want to take a trip into space, you and Rapunzel are welcome to visit us anytime. I'll give you a tour of my kingdom," she said.

Kingdom? She's a princess? I can add another point to my rescued-by-princess tally counter. Not that I'm keeping track or anything.

"In the meantime, take care of Rapunzel for me. Although, that goes without saying," she added.

"You have my word."

My goodbyes with her and the rest of the girls went on for days. They all gave me virtuous kisses as I let them know that I will be forever indebted to them.

They are a darling family indeed— they belong together. It was amusing to watch them walk hand-in-hand and the way they embraced each other was very sweet. Sure I will miss them, but seeing them all together made me happy and I was willing to let go. I mean, I wouldn't want them to fight over me. But, I feel honoured to be part of this exclusive all girls club. Not that I'm bragging or anything. Although, I do have to wonder how much bigger their club will get. I will always care about the girls and I will feel responsible for any of Miss Rydell's messes in the future. It's true, the girls depend on Felina in a bizarre way. Aside from the exception she made for Rapunzel and me, she didn't split her magic any further— at least for the time being. Where does she keep the magic? I have no idea— probably embedded in her neck. The important thing, however, is that Felina loves the girls; treats them incredibly well; and gives them the freedom to do whatever they want. That was all I needed to know. It helped to put my mind at ease.

Eventually, the time had come for them to really leave. Felina said her goodbye to Rapunzel and just before she left, she gave Rapunzel quite the kiss. That girl plays Flynn Rider better than I do. What a player that girl is. But, just as I do, she only likes to play for keeps contrary to her ability to tease. I stood there watching them for a good long while, feeling fidgety. And with that, it was once again, just me and Rapunzel. I fell into Rapunzel's arms, never wanting to let go.

. . . . .

So now that Rapunzel and I are like newlyweds again, I know what the big question is: Will Rapunzel and I ever have children?

I'll admit it, babies are very cute and it's something that we dream we will experience together one day. However, it's not that simple. It is uncertain whether the children would be born with the magic. We have to assume the answer is no. The magic is not infinite and we cannot, and probably should not, split the magic too many times. We wouldn't want the children to depend on us forever and what parent wants to outlive their child? We do not. If we ever do have children, it would have to be at a time when we decide we will end our own lives. I imagine that maybe around the time of our children's 21st birthday, we would leave our rings as a gift and go live out our retirement on an island somewhere. I don't know— but our biological clock isn't ticking yet so we have time to think about it. Until then, my services will fall into the want category.

. . . . .

What will I do now?

Save the world! No, probably not. Saving the world is a non-trivial problem. As I've mentioned before, the magic is finite. Space travel sounds like fun. Maybe we can find a nice place in some far away galaxy. We'll probably take Felina up on her offer someday. Rapunzel was very excited by the invitation to see her lab. But for now, we will continue to blend in, pretending to be normal people, and hang around here for a while. I will take in the sights of this brave new world with Rapunzel as my guide. I should probably look for a job, too.

. . . . .

A few weeks later...

Rapunzel said she had something to confess and wanted to show me her workplace.

"I never told you exactly about what kind of work I do," she said.

"It's fine. It doesn't matter," I said shutting out any negative ideas from my mind.

She insisted it will be fun. We arrived at a stadium and she led me into the crowded building.

"You know, you didn't have to keep this a secret," I said.

"I didn't want you to feel left out," she said almost tearing up. "I'm so sorry that I couldn't free you sooner."

"That's ok. I knew what I signed up for."

"Huh?" She looked confused.

I decided to cover up my confession. "I mean, I just wanted you to know how devoted to you I am. I wasn't sure if you knew. This way, I could show you."

"You don't need to be jailed for me to know that."

"There was never a moment when I felt like I was in a prison. Not one." I said with complete honesty.

"I can say the same for myself," she reflected.

"You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear that."

She kissed me and my eyes went wide. "I'll see you soon," she said with a warm smile.

Rapunzel went out on the stage and took her microphone. It was not my imagination, that in front of an audience of thousands of people, she was singing directly to me.

We are still living happily ever after.


	3. Tower in the Heart

_Well, a few people seem to be reading this, so here is part 3 titled "Tower in the Heart" (a continuation.)_

 _Rated T for difficult mathematical concepts. Also, a little darker, dirtier, possibly controversial, but hopefully the positive messages shine through._

Disclaimer: I do not own Tangled.

* * *

This is the story of how Rapunzel and I celebrated our thousandth wedding anniversary. Of course, this is a fun story. Would I ever tell a story that's not fun?

Our original wedding rings were long gone but our marriage was still solid. You want to know what happened to my ring? Ok, I'll tell you— just don't tell Rapunzel. I may have given it away... But it's not like I cheated. I just gave away a piece of metal. It's not the most terrible secret there can be. I may tell Rapunzel the story eventually — maybe in the next millennium. Rapunzel eventually sold her wedding ring because she thought it was meaningless if I didn't have a matching one. But we didn't need useless trinkets to validate our love anyway.

It didn't even matter anymore because we had new rings. These ones were, in fact, useful. Our new rings contained special stones which held the magic that kept us alive and young — forever. It was all Rapunzel's genius work. She found a way to transfer the magic out of the hair and subsequently to the stones which were then set into our rings. Since the magic no longer existed in our hair, we both had a short haircut. I always liked Rapunzel's short hair the best. Also, with the magic separated from ourselves, anyone could activate the healing powers if they had the stone and knew the words to the magical spell. All one needed to do was touch the stone and sing the chant.

Rapunzel and I got a daily youthful boost from our rings using the incantation song. It had become somewhat of a romantic ritual for us. Rapunzel still liked to lay me down and run her fingers through my hair as she always did before, except now we took turns singing to each other. As Rapunzel would start to sing, she laid herself down beside me and paused in-between words to kiss me; first on the lips and then everywhere else.

"...bring back what once was mine..." She put herself on me as she finished her song.

. . . . .

We'd had many adventures over the past few centuries. The magical ring got me through world war III. Thankfully, I didn't have to shoot anyone, but it was a horrendous experience nonetheless. But this is supposed to be a fun story. Let's see, something more fun...

Over the decades, I ran and sold various technology companies. That was always entertaining. I'd often tagged along as Rapunzel toured the world as a pop star across three generations, using three different personas. She was giving up the pop star life for a third time as the point came when people would likely start noticing that we weren't aging. Even the best plastic surgery these days couldn't rival what we had. Every time we couldn't explain our youth any longer, we had to hide ourselves for a while.

Rapunzel and I agreed that letting the secret of our stones be known was too dangerous, so we kept our magic selfishly hidden. I mean, I wouldn't want to start world war 4. But yes, we also kept the magic a secret for ourselves. Our life depended on the rings and we had to guard them carefully if we wanted to survive. I promised Rapunzel, I would not share the secret with anyone. We shared our magic with others only in secret, occasionally healing someone who wasn't aware of our presence. We tried our best to help people when possible, so I'd liked to believe we weren't total sinners.

We helped people in other ways too. We always shared our acquired wealth with others and strove to do work that was meaningful. The most rewarding project I did over the past few centuries was probably the school I ran, with Rapunzel's help, for technology and the arts. The young people that came through the place, over the years, were very inspiring.

We may be older than your grandmother, but we still knew how to have fun. We were always looking for new adventures. Rapunzel reminded me that our milestone wedding anniversary was approaching. I guess one of us was keeping track. It was the year we would be celebrating one thousand years of marriage. We decided to make a bold change that year and we sold our mansion and made plans to leave planet Earth for a while. It would be my first trip into space. With the exception of digitizing all of our books and music, we decided to stop hoarding stuff like we're going to live forever, and gave away most of our things. We packed just a few items and headed for the stars, leaving planet Earth behind.

Rapunzel and I decided to travel, just the two of us, in our own private space pod. Inside, was like a small apartment with three small rooms. The little space pod was self-sustaining. Our first stop would be a popular touristy planet where we planned to celebrate our official anniversary day. It would take a few months to reach our destination. I know it sounds like a nightmare, but the trip was actually pretty good. We had lots of things to entertain ourselves with. We had our computers; our music collection; digital books; virtual reality contraptions; lots of alcohol to drink. And we had each other.

Was there internet in the space pod?

No.

But I'm from the 19th century. I can live without internet for a while. Besides, there are plenty of other interesting things to do with a computer. I spent a lot of time reading— there was always something new I could be learning. Rapunzel enjoyed star gazing the most. She took careful notes and pictures the entire duration of the trip.

. . . . .

The months went on as we travelled through the mostly vast empty space.

As we travelled, we could freely use our rings without any fear of them being stolen. The rings gave off a bright glow whenever the magical words were recited so we always had to be careful about using them in public. But, over the duration of our trip, we were free to wear the rings on our finger and use them anytime.

Rapunzel, however, must've been getting bored at one point because she decided to let herself go — she wasn't using the magic for a few days. She was looking older than I had ever seen her before.

"If you're trying to make yourself unattractive, it's not working," I told her as I kissed her and started to undress her.

Our passion deepened when she suddenly collapsed. I quickly sang the healing song to bring her back. She was her familiar young self again as she woke up.

"Rapunzel, I think you almost died of old age," I said breathing heavily from the scare. "I think that went a little too far this time."

She looked at me, a little dazed and confused about what just happened.

"Maybe it's not a good idea to try that again," I suggested.

Rapunzel agreed.

Sometimes, we got into long discussions to fill the time. Over the years, we'd always loved to just live in the present rather than talk about our dark pasts. But spending hours travelling this long journey was sure to dredge up old memories.

"I'm sorry I cut your hair," I said one evening.

"I understand why you did it," Rapunzel replied. "You didn't want me to be trapped by my promise to the woman who called herself my mother. You didn't have a choice."

"No, I had a choice," I said. "I could have told you to run away."

"I wouldn't have listened," Rapunzel said. "There is no way I would have left you to die."

"I could've made you listen, I'm sure."

"I doubt it," Rapunzel adamantly replied.

"It was just much easier to leave you with the hair gone than to leave you with the hair intact," I admitted. "If the magic was gone, it's the only way I could be sure you would never be a prisoner for it."

I thought about my actions some more. "Or, maybe I'm just as guilty for not sharing the sun's gift. I should have died for that. I would have deserved to die for what I did."

"That's not true," Rapunzel assured me. "Everything is the way it is meant to be. You've apologized enough. You don't have to say it ever again."

"The scariest thing I've ever done was to leave you with all the uncut hair," I reminisced some more on the past. I was thinking about the time I ran away from her, essentially committing suicide because I was dependant on the magic in her hair. "Running away was the most terrifying thing I've ever done because I was so afraid that someone would take you prisoner for your hair. I know it's hypocritical of me to say that."

"Why did you run away?"

"Because I didn't want to trap you," I answered. "As terrified as I was by the thought of someone mistreating you, I logically knew it was wrong to keep you all to myself."

"You were never trapping me," she assured me and she started to kiss me.

"The chains weren't even necessary. You'd probably never send me away knowing that I would die without you," I said. "I wanted you to be free."

"I don't want to be free of you."

"I've often thought, I don't deserve you," I rambled on. "I was planning to be dead that day in the tower. It was never my intention to take you for myself. My only dream was for you to experience the world."

"It's a good thing you didn't die."

She shut my mouth with a kiss when I tried to speak again.

. . . . .

The weeks went on...

One day, I was rummaging through a shelf and a box of Rapunzel's things fell down. There was an odd unlabelled canister that fell out and rolled across the floor. It got me curious and I picked it up. Was it spray paint?

"Be careful with that," Rapunzel warned when she saw me looking at it.

"Just curious, what is it?"

"It was a gift from Felina. It's a temporary blinding agent that she always carried around with her."

"I see."

"It's used like a pepper spray," Rapunzel further explained. "She gave one to me, too."

"You've kept it all this time?" I curiously asked.

"I've always felt safer carrying it around," Rapunzel said. "But don't worry, I've never had to use it."

"That's good to know." A small smile spread across my face.

"And Felina told me, she only had to use it once," Rapunzel added.

"Oh wonderful," I couldn't help mutter under my breath.

"What was that?"

"Oh nothing," I said as a quick cover up.

Although Rapunzel hadn't seen her in a long time, she still considered Felina a good friend.

"I still can never get over how strange of coincidence it was that Felina and I found each other," Rapunzel started again. It was a conversation we'd had a number of times before.

"I wonder how many others out there have this kind of magic," Rapunzel continued, thinking out loud. "Aside from Felina and her girlfriends, I have never met anyone else who has the magic. Isn't that strange?"

I had never told Rapunzel my secret that I met Felina a few centuries earlier and had given away one of the magical flowers that Rapunzel herself had created. It always impressed me that Felina never told my secret either. I thought I should tell Rapunzel the story so that she would stop wondering about how unique our magic really is. I was pretty certain our magic was unique. Felina's magic was split from our source — something I still couldn't find the confidence to admit to Rapunzel. I wasn't even sure why I was still keeping it a secret. Rapunzel was not a jealous person. I don't think it would bother her to know that I gave the magic away to all these other girls. Rapunzel was practically best friends with Felina, so she would probably be amused to hear the story. However, the longer I kept the secret, the harder it became to admit it. At a certain point, I thought it would upset Rapunzel more to know I kept the story a secret rather than the story itself.

I'd often questioned my motives for giving away the flower. I didn't have to give it away. I could've easily kept the flower for myself. Back then, Felina wasn't the vicious warrior she is now. Back then, I could fight her blind. I just didn't want to fight her for the flower. Or maybe there was a selfish motive behind giving it away... I hated to think I was subconsciously trapping Rapunzel— I wouldn't let myself think about it. None of this mattered anymore. We've had our magic separated for a few centuries now. If Rapunzel wanted to leave me, she could do so at any time.

"Yeah, strange," I replied.

I was thinking I will tell Rapunzel the story someday — maybe in the next millennium.

"I imagine anyone who does possess the magic would guard their secret carefully, so it would be very difficult to meet others with the same magic," Rapunzel continued her thought experiment. "But, that's why I think it's so strange that I bumped into Felina."

"How did you meet her anyways?" I asked. "I don't remember the whole story."

Rapunzel retold the story:  
"Felina was often coming to my concerts. She was very persistent about meeting me. She definitely knew how to get herself noticed with her long train of gorgeous girls. Everyone stared at them wherever they went. I was also intrigued and I invited them back stage at one of my shows. Felina felt like an old friend almost immediately. She had a very in-depth knowledge of history and all the girls were so articulate when they spoke. They all impressed me very much. I started to invite them to every party I attended. I also invited Felina to our ocean castle many times, but she always declined — I have no idea why. We became good friends and had been hanging out for a few months when she finally shared her secret with me. She described the magical flower she owned which had healing powers that could also act as an eternal fountain of youth. I was stunned that she wanted to tell me about it. By that point, I felt like I could trust her so, it was the only time that I ever told anyone about our secret — that we had the same magic — only stored in your hair."

"Well it's not that strange that you two met — she was just recruiting another girl for her group and you certainly stand out," I said with a wink.

Rapunzel continued her story. "I showed Felina some of my experiment notes. It turned out she was also heavily into science. She was amazed by my work and when I told her about a material I was looking for with very specific properties, she recognized similarities in a material that she was studying. This rare material was one she had previously found inside a rock that collided with Mars. Felina didn't have any of this material anymore but she suggested that we travel to space to look for it."

A subtle guilty expression came across Rapunzel's face. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you when I left," Rapunzel explained. "It was all Felina's idea to leave right away and she can be very persuasive. She promised me that the girls would keep you safe."

"Well, I survived," I said, smiling.

Rapunzel paused for a moment, deep in thought. "What would you have done if I didn't come back?" Rapunzel asked.

I hesitated while thinking. Then I started feeling nervous about hesitating and then I couldn't think of anything to say fast enough. I wasn't good with sappy speeches.

"It's ok to say that you would have found a new dream," Rapunzel rescued me by breaking the silence.

Rapunzel always made these conversations easy for me. The words started coming more readily.

"One thing for sure, I would be missing you forever," I said as I stared into her eyes. My voice was cracking a little as I didn't want to think about it. "Rapunzel, I would still die for you over and over." It was the honest truth.

"However," I continued, "there is one important thing I feel the need to admit—"

Saying this was going to be difficult but I felt it had to be said: "I wouldn't see a point to dying if you were already gone because I don't believe in giving up. And I never want you to give up either. Promise me, Rapunzel, that you will never give up."

Thankfully, Rapunzel didn't show any hint of being upset by what I had said. She seemed to understand and probably shared the same belief.

"I think you already know, it's very unlikely that I'll be giving up anytime soon," Rapunzel said.

There was no doubt in my mind — Rapunzel would never easily give up this life. Her lust for life had never faltered from the first day I met her.

"I hope what I said didn't come out the wrong way." I was ready to clarify in case what I said upset her in any way.

"If you gave any other answer, I wouldn't have believed you."

"Why do you ask me questions that you already know the answer to?" I asked with a little laughter.

Rapunzel just shrugged, smiling. She probably wasn't even sure why.

"There was a moment when I thought I might not make it back," Rapunzel said, continuing the story. "Felina and I were traversing some dangerous mines, looking for this material," Rapunzel explained. "There was an incident when we got trapped in a cave and we thought we were going to die. Felina was so worried about the girls because they didn't have their own source of magic. I told Felina that you would never leave the girls."

"Yeah, probably not," I admitted. "It would be hard to leave them knowing that their life depends on the magic."

I gave the scenario some thought. "But that would be very bad for my image," I said. "Having a string of girls and treating them as disposable seems to be acceptable. Marrying a string of girls? I'd be hanged for that."

Rapunzel just laughed and her smile was contagious. It put my mind at ease to know that Rapunzel would find a situation like that humorous.

"Did you ever think that maybe Felina shouldn't be pulling so many girls into her group?" I contemplated. "There must be other ways she can attract attention to herself than to parade around with her trophies."

"Oh she's not that bad," Rapunzel said in her defense. "Besides, Felina isn't married."

"Oh, then it's fine."

Rapunzel's eye brows went up as she detected sarcasm in my voice.

"She's changing," Rapunzel said. "She's not accumulating girls as fast as she used to."

. . . . .

We took a scenic route and weren't maintaining the speed we expected and so, we would not be reaching our destination in time for our official anniversary date. We would have to celebrate the day while still travelling. And, soon enough, the day arrived; we were officially married for one thousand years.

"Well things didn't go as we planned, but nothing has to be perfect," I reassured Rapunzel. "We will be celebrating the entire year!"

Rapunzel put on a beautiful dress and turned on some music.

"1940s?"

"You remember your music well," she said.

"It was a good decade," I said as I spun her around and we danced for a while.

We broke out the champagne.

"So Blondie, it looks like we survived the millennium. Should we toast to the next thousand years?" I said raising my glass towards hers.

She kissed me and my eyes went wide.

"You are still my dream," I said.

"And you are mine."

I continued with my sentimental speech: "I still remember our early days so clearly. You saved me in more ways than one. I thought no one could ever love me and then you looked at me with pure eyes."

"Don't worry," she said staring into my eyes. "I will never break my promise to you. I am yours forever."

I zoned out momentarily as I thought about what she had just said.

"Rapunzel, there is something I want you to promise me."

"Ok," she replied with positive enthusiasm.

"Do you promise?"

"But, you haven't told me what it is yet."

"Just trust me. Do you promise?" I asked again.

"Fine, I promise," she answered with smugness as if accepting a childish dare.

"Before our next anniversary, you have to promise me that you will break a promise."

Rapunzel gasped. "That's not fair," she said.

"Remember, you already promised," I said with a teasing smile. "Are you breaking your promise?"

Rapunzel was at a loss for words.

"But you really don't have to do anything different," I explained. "If you don't break a promise then you have still broken this new promise, which you made to me today by the way — on our anniversary."

"And not just any anniversary..." I guilted her further.

I stopped talking when I saw I was upsetting her. Now I was the one feeling guilty. However, deep down, I still had no regrets about what I had just done.

Rapunzel was lost in her thoughts.

"The broken promise doesn't have to be anything big," I said. "If you like, it can be something completely fabricated with intention of being broken from the start. It's completely up to you."

"I feel like my recursive function is stuck in an infinite loop," Rapunzel said, sounding frustrated.

"I'm a terrible programmer," I kidded as I liked to believe I'm not illiterate in this modern world.

"Why do you insist on doing this to me?" she asked.

"I don't want to trap you by your promises. You can break promises to me. Ok?"

"You are _not_ trapping me," she assured me.

"I have to know that you really _want_ to be with me and not because you promised. You're allowed to change your mind," I told her as I stared directly into her eyes.

"Eugene, I don't want to leave you."

"You don't have to. Just pick a small promise to break."

Rapunzel reluctantly agreed to keep this new promise to break a promise.

Lucky for me, Rapunzel forgave me quickly. She wasn't letting what I did spoil our celebration and we re-consummated our marriage — three times.

Late that evening, as we looked through our telescope, we saw the heart of Pluto in the distance. We looked at each other and smiled. I think we both instantly knew we would be making a stop there.

"Want to stay there for a while?" I asked.

"Yes!" she answered excitedly confirming what I saw in her eyes.

. . . . .

A few days later...

There were a few landing stations around Pluto where travellers could park. We looked up the coordinates to find a station. We made our descent and landed on the icy planet. The atmosphere on this planet wasn't suitable for life but there were vast indoor enclosures. Our parked space pod could double as our hotel.

It was a barren place. Maybe we should have researched this a bit more before landing here. But I preferred more adventurous vacations, rather than the cushy resorts, anyway.

While travelling in our private rocket for months, I had gotten used to wearing my ring on my finger and it was easy to forget that I was wearing it. I stepped out with my ring still on my finger. Realizing within moments that I should not have it visible, I slipped it off my finger so that I could transfer it to my vest's inner pocket. Within a blink of an eye as the ring was off my finger, I was mugged by a tall dark figure, wearing a heavily armored jacket. Within seconds, my ring was gone before I could even process what had happened.

Rapunzel was near and had seen what happened. She drew her gun. I don't know why Rapunzel felt a need to tote weapons. There must be other ways of solving problems. Rapunzel pointed her gun and shot the thief strategically in the leg and I saw the figure fall to the ground.

"Rapunzel!" I yelled out in horror. "You can't!"

I saw the hurt in her eyes. I don't think she had ever shot anyone before.

"I'm sorry," she said, starting to tear up, "but it'll be fine. I'll sedate him. Then I'll heal him and then we can get the ring back while he's blacked out."

She could see from the look on my face, that I didn't like the idea.

"I know, but what else can we do?" she asked.

Rapunzel then started to run, silently on her toes, toward the fallen person, still keeping the gun at her side with her finger near the trigger.

"No, Rapunzel!" I yelled in a whisper.

I had to run to keep up with her. As Rapunzel got closer, the thief drew a gun on her. I screamed at the sight. The thief inverted the gun and hit Rapunzel with the back side, knocking her out completely. Instinctively, I tackled the person back to the ground and managed to kick the gun away. The thief reached for the gun and I dove to grab it first. After a bit of a wrestle, I had the thief restrained with my arm. I grabbed my backpack where I had some chains and ropes — don't ask me why I was carrying all these things — I mean, we were planning to do some hiking and rock climbing and things like that. I tied up the rebel and stood there frozen with my gun pointed at — a girl. And, not to mention, a cute one. She shook her head so that the hood she was wearing fell down all the way. I tried to stay calm and didn't immediately move from my stance.

"I need my ring back," I asked her coolly, but politely. I still hadn't lowered my gun.

"You won't hurt me," she said calling my bluff.

I was already feeling defeated. I threw down the gun. There was a better way to deal with this. I put on my best seductive face. "I'll make a deal with you," I said.

She didn't look impressed. The fluffy white animal that crawled out of her jacket didn't look impressed either. I had no idea what kind of animal it was. This was already not going as planned. I pulled a few strands of my hair down in front of my eyes, inspecting it for grey. There wasn't any grey hair, so I should've been fine.

"I'm sorry about your leg. We'll help you fix it," I said.

She was giving me a cold look.

"Listen," I continued, "if you need help, I will help you. I'll give you money. I just need my ring back— it has special meaning to me."

She looked thoughtful but wasn't immediately making any effort to return the ring.

I was contemplating whether the probability that this girl was older than one hundred could be greater than zero. Probably not, I decided.

"How old are you?" I regretted asking the question as soon as it left my mouth.

"Seventeen," she replied, seemingly a bit puzzled by the question.

"Is your birthday, by any chance, tomorrow?" The pet's angry eyebrows went a little lower. "...nevermind."

"Why? How old are you?"

I stumbled in giving an answer.

"Maybe I can guess... thirty?" she asked.

"What?" I felt insulted. This was bad. Very, very, bad. Thirty? That made me feel dirty. I would be giving myself a boost of the magic the first available chance. I could not have possibly looked that old. "I'm not that old... uh..." Well, it was a couple orders of magnitude off, but I was still insulted.

"What's your name?" I quickly changed the subject with a new question.

"It's Maxi."

I was periodically checking on Rapunzel. Rapunzel had a noticeable cut across her forehead but it could easily be healed with the magic and I was confident she would be fine. I was going over various options in my mind for how to deal with the situation. I couldn't use the magic to heal Rapunzel in front of the girl because there was a risk the secret would be revealed. I didn't want to take Rapunzel elsewhere to do it either because I didn't trust the girl out of my sight. I could sedate Maxi and take the ring back... but that felt more dirty. Could you imagine how terrifying it would be for her to wake up in an unknown place having no idea what happened?

I pleaded with the girl some more. "Maxi, if you give me back my ring, I promise, I will let you go. We can forget this whole thing. And, if you want my help, I'll still help you."

She held her stubbornness. By this point, she probably knew she could mop the floor with me. But this wasn't a crown we're talking about; this was the ring which holds the magic that keeps me alive — it was far more valuable. I had to get it back at all cost.

I continued analyzing the various options in my mind. I knew she had to have the ring on herself somewhere. I had her tied up. I could probably just find it and take it back, right?

I knelt down beside her and patted her clothing to see if I could feel the ring in her pocket. I know, I was already feeling atrocious.

"I just need my ring back," I explained, trying to justify my actions.

I swept my hand across the front of her loose fitting shirt. I could feel lots of objects under her shirt. Wow, I thought, she certainly has a collection of stuff she's pilfered. I asked her one more time to give me back the ring.

"Or what?" she replied, defiantly. She saw right through me.

I let out an exasperated sigh. At least, if I got the ring back, I wouldn't have to worry about burning in hell for what I was about to do — because I would never die. I started to lift the bottom of her shirt by a minuscule amount. She gave me a blank stare that made me feel really dirty. I didn't get too far with the shirt before I saw that the objects I felt underneath were a bunch of wires. I was horrified as I looked at all the holes in her body and electronic components stuck into her skin. It looked like some kind of twisted science experiment.

"Who did this to you?"

She suddenly leaned in trying to kiss me. I moved away before her lips could touch mine. "What are you doing?" I asked as I stared back in surprise.

"Isn't that what you wanted?"

"No! I just want my ring back."

I put the bottom piece of her shirt back to its proper place.

"I'm sorry." I said. I was incapable of hassling her any further.

I then moved in closer again and, out of subconscious fear that someone could be listening, whispered into her ear. "I'll tell you a secret. The ring is a magical ring," I revealed to her. "Turn on your recording device and I will show you." I sang the song in a whisper with my lips almost touching the device, which she had in her ear, just to be sure the sound was out of range of Rapunzel's ring. The wound on the girl's leg was instantly healed. So... it was obvious that she had the ring on herself somewhere because the magic worked. However, I didn't see any light coming off the stone, so I had no idea where exactly she hid the ring— probably somewhere I shouldn't be digging. I gave up on any attempt to reclaim the ring.

"The ring will heal you anytime you need it and it has the ability to keep you young forever," I explained.

I unlocked the chains.

"Take it and go," I told her. I also gave her all the money I had on me.

The firm, defiant expression she had on her face suddenly fell. Her eyes widened in disbelief. She didn't say anything more and didn't question me. She quickly got to her feet and ran away. As I watched her leave, I was thinking I should be more careful about who I give the magic away to. I wouldn't be telling Rapunzel about what happened. But it's not like I cheated. Rapunzel was usually understanding when it came to helping someone, but in this case, it just felt easier to get rid of the girl and keep quiet rather than to drag Rapunzel into the situation.

As soon as the girl was out of my sight, I dove to Rapunzel's side and quickly healed her using her own ring which she carried on herself, in a hidden pocket.

Rapunzel woke.

She was understandably confused. "What happened?" she asked still sounding a little sleepy.

"I'm sorry," I began to explain. My eyes wandered a few random places. I forced myself to look at Rapunzel to be more convincing. "The thief escaped... I lost the ring."

"It's alright," Rapunzel said.

A moment later, Rapunzel suddenly burst into tears.

"What's wrong?" I quickly asked, trying to comfort her.

"I feel awful. I didn't get a chance to heal him," Rapunzel sobbed. "I really didn't want to hurt him."

"I'm sure he'll be fine," I comforted Rapunzel, still covering up the true story. Rapunzel slowly started to calm down.

"I should have just embedded the stone under my skin— then, this never would have happened," I thought out loud.

"Having a ring, makes you a target of theft. If you had it inside you, you'd be a target for murder," Rapunzel said, trying to convince me it was not the right decision.

"I can't live without the ring," I reminded her. "Stealing the ring is pretty much the same as killing me."

"Not exactly, because we still have one— you can use my ring," Rapunzel said and kissed me as a way to comfort me. "I guess you're stuck with me," she added.

The guilt was starting to overwhelm me. "Unfortunately, that means you're stuck with me too," I said.

"I don't mind," Rapunzel replied. "I originally made two rings to give you _your_ freedom."

"That's something you don't have to worry about," I assured her. "I'm perfectly happy being locked in this marriage and throwing away the key."

Rapunzel kissed me again. My eyes went wide.

"Want to break out some more champagne? We are supposed to be celebrating."

"Ok," Rapunzel answered with an excited tone.

I downed quite a bit that night. The guilt would pass in a few days.

. . . . .

We made plans to have an official date night to mark our anniversary. We discovered a few establishments nearby and decided we would celebrate by going out to see if there is any more life on this planet. Rapunzel got herself ready and came out looking stunning in a very beautiful dress.

"What do you think?" she asked as she twirled around with a shiny smile spread across her face.

"I think you should change into something more irrespectable," I nervously grinned. "This place feels sketchy and we don't want to draw attention to ourselves."

"Maybe you're right," Rapunzel agreed. She didn't hesitate to change her outfit and had no problem finding something less respectable to wear.

Just as we were stepping out the door, Rapunzel said she forgot something and ran back to one of the rooms inside. As I waited for Rapunzel, I found myself face to face with the girl who stole my ring.

"What are you doing here?" I muttered in a whisper.

"I appreciate your kindness, but I can't accept this," Maxi said as she showed me the ring.

I was at a loss for words.

"I'm returning your ring," she said as she placed it in my hand. "I wouldn't want to live forever in such a terrible place anyway. Please forgive me."

I turned around to see Rapunzel was overhearing all of this, standing in the doorway of the other room.

"You gave away your magic?" Rapunzel said almost in tears. She ran back inside the room.

I quickly followed Rapunzel into the room. The tears were streaming down her face.

"Rapunzel, you need to listen to me. I didn't intend for it to happen," I explained. "The girl stole something from me. She hid it on herself and she refused to give it back. I know it was valuable, but what was I supposed to do? Fight her and violate her until she gave it back to me? I just couldn't do it."

Rapunzel stopped suddenly and stared blankly with wide eyes that were still shiny and wet. "I'm sorry. You're right," she said. "I forgive you."

At that moment, I was getting distracted. I saw, through the doorway, in the corner of my eye, Maxi had started to run away. I fully turned around to watch her. I felt terrible for what I was going to do, but Rapunzel and I would have lots of time to talk. This girl, on the other hand, I would never see again, but there were a few things that I really had to say to her.

I turned back to Rapunzel. "Just one second," I told her and I ran after the girl.

"Maxi!" I caught up to her. "Thank you for your incredibly honest gesture."

"I should be thanking you for your kindness. And like I said, I don't need it. I don't want to live forever."

It was sad to hear her say this. "There are lots of good things to be found," I said.

"I'm fine to live my life as is; the way it should be," she told me. "Anyway, you should go. You'll get into trouble hanging around me."

"I'll talk to Rapunzel. We understand each other; we'll be fine," I assured her.

"Do you have a place to go?" I asked.

"I'll figure something out."

I knew I was breaking a code with what I was going to say next. "If you need a place to stay, there is a hidden kingdom one solar system over." I gave her the navigation instructions on how to get there. Felina would forgive me.

I started to head back to our parked space pod to where Rapunzel was waiting. However, when I arrived... the space pod was gone! Rapunzel was nowhere to be seen! I fell to my knees. She had finally had it with me. She had finally broken her promise. Could she really leave me like this, with nothing? I barely had anything on me except for my ring. Could she really hate me that much?

I was breathing heavily, trying to process what was going on. I felt myself going numb. I became dizzy looking around at the emptiness. But, there was something that stood out from the emptiness. At that moment, a sparkle caught my eye... It was Rapunzel's ring! An even greater panic ran through my entire body.

"Rapunzel! Nooooo..." I probably screamed louder than ever before, my voice echoing into the empty abyss— but no one likely heard me. I collapsed with my back flat against the ground. As I lay on the ground, I logically knew I had to compose myself. I had to think. I couldn't give up. Was it suicide? I thought carefully for a moment. No, I decided. Rapunzel would never do that. I suddenly got a surge of energy and picked myself up off the ground. I ran through the deserted alleyways searching for the elusive girl. I finally spotted her.

"What did you mean when you said that I shouldn't hang around you?" I called out to Maxi.

"Because there are people after me."

"Please, I need your help. I think they took Rapunzel."

My thieving days were long behind me, but with our space pod gone, I was left with nothing. I had to revert back to my old ways to get through this situation.

Together, Maxi and I stole a space pod. Not to brag or anything, but we pulled off the theft very smoothly. Secretly, I liked knowing that I still got it. Maxi told me about the hideaway from where she escaped. She was confident it would be the place Rapunzel was taken.

We arrived at the building. I told Maxi to stay back and that I would go in alone and search for Rapunzel. She refused to listen and followed me in. It didn't take long for me to discover Rapunzel was inside the place. I felt great relief when I saw her but the worst was not over. Rapunzel's hands were chained and the man who captured her had spotted Maxi and I. I stood in front of Maxi as if to shield her but she pushed me aside and stepped in front.

"Let her go. I'll trade places with her," Maxi spoke to the man she clearly knew. "If you let her go, I'll never try to run away again— _I promise_."

I shuddered at the sound of those words. "No, I won't let you do this," I said as I pulled her back.

Maxi turned to me. "Don't worry," she said, "this was my mess, I'll deal with it."

The evil man seemed happy to make the switch and he approached us ready to take Maxi. I realized, if I would be the one who frees Rapunzel then the girl would not be bound to her promise. As the man came near, I gave it my all to fight the guy as he tried to take the girl. Unfortunately, my best attempt to fight was pretty pathetic. The man threw me down hard on the ground and pointed his gun at me. Maxi stepped in and stopped him from shooting me. She convinced the man to leave and promised again that she would go with him. Before they left, the man kept his word and released Rapunzel, pushing her towards me and then, in a flash, he was out the door taking Maxi with him.

I took Rapunzel into my arms and held her tightly.

"Did he hurt you?" I asked nervously.

"No," she answered.

I exhaled with relief. I still had Rapunzel's ring on me and I handed it back to her.

"Rapunzel, how could you leave your ring?" I felt my heart racing. "You could have died. Never leave your ring; you can never give up!" I was almost shouting.

Rapunzel started crying. "You always said, you didn't want to trap me and that you would never follow me if I wanted to leave," she sobbed. "I was scared that you would think I intentionally left. I was terrified you wouldn't try to find me. If you wouldn't be following me, then I might as well be dead."

Rapunzel paused to catch her breath. "But, knowing you, I knew that if you found my ring then you wouldn't let me give up and you would come find me."

I hugged her tightly to comfort her. "Ok then, I will always find you. Don't leave your ring again."

Rapunzel still looked sad and worried. "What about the girl?" Rapunzel asked. "What are we going to do?"

"She's gone," I said very simply. "A promise is a promise, right? There is no point in following her because it's her choice to stay with that guy. The battle is over."

"No, I think we should follow her," Rapunzel said firmly. "You were right, when you told me, some promises are mistakes and should be broken."

Rapunzel pushed me to get up.

"Let's go," Rapunzel insisted. "Sometimes it takes another person to show us what we can't see ourselves. We need to force the girl to break her promise. We will take her back."

It was difficult for me to get up without a boost of the magic. When I healed myself we ran for the door. We got to the outer zone only to find that they were already gone. We also found our original space pod but it was tampered with so we couldn't immediately follow them.

"It will be impossible to find her," I said, feeling a cloud of depression hovering over my head. "I don't have a clue of where to even begin."

Rapunzel also didn't have any ideas.

"I'm so sorry, Eugene." Rapunzel started tearing up. "It's all my fault. The guilt will haunt me for a hundred years if we don't find her."

"No, it's not your fault. It's mine." I said. It was breaking my heart that Rapunzel blamed herself.

However, it didn't take long for Rapunzel to regain her optimistic outlook. Rapunzel suddenly got excited by an idea. She wanted to visit Felina's kingdom. She was thinking that Felina may know someone who can track down the lost girl. I was skeptical.

"We should stop by anyway," Rapunzel longingly continued to convince me, "since we're already in the neighbourhood."

"Relatively speaking..." I said. "It will take a while to get there."

I agreed to go visit the girls' kingdom. But deep down, I had given up on finding Maxi. I would not let myself think about it anymore. The sole purpose of the trip would be to visit friends. I would have no other expectations. We picked up the pace and hopped solar systems. How? The science is complicated, so don't ask me to explain it.

. . . . .

A few weeks later...

We arrived at the girls' kingdom. The atmosphere here was such that we could just step outside. The place was very similar to Earth. I was curious to look around and told Rapunzel to go ahead while I strolled the streets near the castle. I was expecting to find a planet of girls where I'm worshipped like a god, but it was actually very normal here — men lived here too. The concerns I had, about the explaining I would need to do, quickly faded. It was a secluded place but a decent number of people lived here. It felt like Earth— just a little nicer, cleaner. It reminded me of centuries past, but it was still a very modern, high tech place. I continued to wander around admiring the new sights.

I caught sight of a puff of orange hair in the not too far distance. The girl spotted me.

"Eugene!" She runs towards me wearing the shortest skirt imaginable and knowing her, probably nothing underneath. She jumped on me. "You came to visit us!"

"Hi Sienna."

"Want to come to my room?" she immediately invited. "There is something cool I've discovered. Come see, I want to show you."

"Uh... maybe some other time."

"It'll be fun! Come!"

"I'm sure it's too much fun— that's the problem."

A winged creature leapt from tree to tree above us. Her name is Esther.

Sienna called out to her. "Esther, come see who came to visit us."

The winged girl, with hair swooping over her eyes, jumped down right in front of me. "Who?"

"It's Eugene!"

"Really! Eugene!" She kissed me directly on the mouth and wasn't letting go easily.

"Esther, you need to control yourself," Sienna joked.

Esther finally released me. "How else am I supposed to know it's really him?"

"The magic may erase everything, but you're no virgin angel," Sienna teased with her.

"Neither are you."

"I'm not pretending to be," Sienna laughed.

Sienna then turned to me, "so Eugene, how have you been?"

We got lost in our conversation for a while, catching up on the past century.

. . . . .

Later that day...

We went inside the castle and some of the girls were hanging out in the impressively large lab located on the ground floor of the castle. Rapunzel was deep in conversation with one girl, discussing the possible reasons for why the time machine is not working. Do we really that? I wondered. We'll get to the future eventually. The girl talking to Rapunzel had her back to me, but I still recognized the flowing black hair. She turned around and caught my eye. She still looked like a teenager. She immediately started walking towards me upon discovering that I was standing in the room. She didn't say a word, as she walked up to me, and just took my arm and pulled me around a corner. She started pulling me in really close and wrapping herself around me.

"What are you doing?" I asked trying to pull back in resistance to her advances.

She started singing the song, "Power gleam and glow, let your power shine..."

She stepped back when she was done singing. "I was fixing the flecks of grey in your hair, Flynn. Married life is causing you to let yourself go?"

I couldn't help break into a smile. "Just been distracted recently..." I said. "And you can call me Eugene— and what should I call you? Queen? Princess?"

"You can call me princess. Queen makes me feel old."

"Ok, princess. What is your real name anyway?"

"What do you mean?"

"Felina — that's not your real name."

"It's Eugenia."

"No it isn't," I laughed.

"I'll never tell," she stubbornly replied.

I explained the situation with the missing girl. She listened closely to my story and said she would look into it. I was feeling nervous as I sensed she had no idea how she would be able to track down the girl.

"We will talk about it," she said ending on a positive note.

"Come, I have to introduce you to a few of the girls you haven't met," she said. "But, one of them is new and she doesn't know anything about the magic, so you can't mention it."

I said hello to the three stunningly cute girls who were the newest members of the inner circle. One had eyes that gave me a sense of deja vu. The girl she reminded me of had a more normal hairstyle but I remembered her face being very similar.

I had the strangest flashback to a time before I met Rapunzel:

 _I came across a group of guys who were degrading a girl as they surrounded her._

 _"Hey! Leave her alone," I shouted at them. It may have been a foolish thing to do because I would unlikely be able to take them on._

 _"Oh look, Rider wants all the whores to himself."_

 _"What?" I was confused by the comment._

 _They seemingly lost interest in the girl and started walking over to me._

 _"We saw you a few nights ago — who were all the girls? That's quite a collection you've got."_

 _"Huh?"_

 _I was trying to remember where I was a few nights ago. I only remembered being very drunk._

 _The men each took a few swings at me and beat me to the ground. "We're not finished with you, Rider," they warned. However, they decided to walk away without further bothering me or the girl._

 _The girl ran over to me and helped me to my feet, apologizing and thanking me._

 _We exchanged friendly smiles._

 _"Do you want to grab a drink and chat?" I offered._

 _"I'm not that kind of girl," she said._

 _"How about just chatting?" I suggested._

 _"I'm not that kind of girl," she repeated as she pulled me in for a kiss._

 _"Well, lucky for you, I don't have enough money," I cynically replied._

 _"For you, it's free," she generously offered._

 _That kind of forwardness was certainly new to me._

 _"I'm flattered, really," I said hesitantly._

 _She had an alluring smile on her face._

 _"Come," I said changing my tone to a more upbeat one, "sit with me for a drink. I have enough money for one drink."_

 _"I'll keep it in mind," she said as a way to decline. She gave me a chaste kiss as she said goodbye and we parted ways shortly after. I never saw her again._

 _Come to think of it, the next morning, I didn't find the bruises I expected to see from the incident._

I snapped back to the present time.

"Have we met before?" I asked the girl.

"I grew up here," she said. "I've never been to Earth, so I doubt it." The question didn't faze her. She just shrugged with a friendly smile.

I looked at her eyes for a long time and then shook the thought away.

Felina was looking around the room. There was apparently a fourth girl I hadn't met. "Where is she?" Felina asked out loud. "I haven't seen her all day."

Just then, another girl entered the room. I turned around.

"Max—"

I caught myself and realized I'm not supposed to let on that I know the girl. Felina shot me a wicked glare. It became obvious that Maxi didn't tell anyone the story of the ring. The sight of the girl was a surprise to Rapunzel as well. Rapunzel was standing behind Felina, her eyes going wide. At first, she had an expression of relief that the girl was safe, but shortly after, she gave me a stern expression while silently mouthing, "Eugene!" as she was understandably concerned that I was spreading the girls' secret.

I just shrugged my shoulders, acting cute and clueless. Rapunzel was never able to stay mad at me for long. She trusted me. She started smiling while shaking her head and doing that slight eye roll she often did whenever she was amused by my bad behaviour.

Shortly after, Felina offered to give me a tour of the castle and insisted I tell her the entire story of how I knew Maxi. I assured Felina that I didn't tell their secret but that Maxi knew about mine. We wandered through the castle as I told the story.

Each of girls had their own large wing in the castle. Their living spaces were as colourful as their hair. As Felina walked by a room which appeared to be her bedroom, she took the opportunity to go in to look for something. It was the only room with no colour. I stood in the doorway. A black cat greeted me at my feet. Actually, the tail was too puffy — I'm not sure what kind of animal it was.

"You can come in," Felina offered.

I didn't move from my place.

"Don't worry, I've never been with a man. I won't try anything," she teased.

I took one step into the room. The collection of daggers and knives she had beside her bed was making me uncomfortable. I decided not to ask any further questions. I waited while she rummaged through her closets. She either found what she was looking for or gave up, but she was ready to go and we continued the tour.

I had one thought going through my mind. Since arriving, I had bumped into all the girls at various times throughout the day— except one. At first, I thought nothing of it, but now, I couldn't stop thinking about the blue-haired girl.

"Where's Lily?" I asked. "She's the only one I haven't seen yet."

"I sensed that she needed some time on her own, so I suggested to her that she take an extended vacation." Felina spoke so casually.

A cold shiver shocked my entire body. "What?"

My sadness quickly turned to rage. "Are you a complete psycho? You can't do that!"

I definitely startled her. Felina's eyes were suddenly wide and innocent. "No. I would never do that..." Her mouth started quivering. "She has a stone..." Felina said as tears started pouring down her face. I didn't think a reaction like that was possible from her.

"I would never just send her away. I would never do that," she kept repeating.

I was still breathing heavily as I was processing what she was saying. "You split the magic?"

Felina tried to compose herself. "Sorry, I didn't realize I forgot to mention it to you."

I felt a sudden relief but the feeling was quickly replaced by a new horror that overwhelmed me. "How many times?" I asked.

"I have my stone and the girls have three more which they share. I think we've reached the limit— the magic in the stones can't be split any further," Felina explained.

More tears fell down her face. She rubbed one of her eyes, pushing out the contact lens to reveal a more normal eye colour.

"Please, forgive me," I said, wiping away a tear that was falling down her cheek. I instinctively reached for her hands to comfort her in an apologetic way.

She hit me squarely across the chest, knocking the wind out of me, and reprimanded me, "ironic, coming from you who is sending more girls my way."

"I'm sorry," I said unable to think of anything more to say.

. . . . .

Later that evening...

I sat down beside Maxi.

"Looks like you didn't need any rescuing," I said. "I was so worried when you said the words 'I promise'. I feared you would never try to escape."

"Those are just empty words," she replied very casually.

"Right," I said as images of Rapunzel flashed in my mind.

"I really like it here," Maxi told me. "Everyone has been so nice to me here."

"I knew they would be."

"But, I don't think I'll fit in here, because..."

"Trust me," I interrupted. "If you want to be part of this club, the decision will be yours."

. . . . .

A few days later...

Rapunzel and I were sitting outside one evening, just the two of us, enjoying the sun set. The strange new sky on this new planet was fascinating to watch. Rapunzel's eyes dazzled as she stared at the sky while I stared at her. There was no doubt, she was still my dream. She eventually glanced my way and our eyes locked.

"Rapunzel, I'm sorry for..."

She put her hand over my mouth preventing me from saying anything more.

"I trust you," she said.

She lowered her hand. "Don't apologize," she added as she kissed me. My eyes went wide.

"I hope you know that I would do anything for you," I told her.

"Well, just don't sacrifice yourself too much for me. You don't have to _cut_ yourself away from the world because then I won't have you anymore," Rapunzel insightfully replied. "And I want you exactly the way you are."

We sat for a long time admiring the sky. Rapunzel asked me if we could stay on this planet for a while. It wasn't difficult to convince me. This place was beautiful.

. . . . .

Now, I know what the big question is. What promise did Rapunzel break?

Rapunzel decided to *keep* the promise to break a promise. And she did, in fact, break a promise to me. However, she asked that I keep this broken promise a secret and I promised her I would. I think I've broken my fair share of promises, so I decided this is one promise that I will keep. So, I can't say what promise she broke. All I will say is that I was cool with it.

. . . . .

A few decades later...

Rapunzel and I decided to return to planet Earth. It's still our first home, so our curiosity drew us back.

And as for the girls, well, Felina finally decided to settle down and get married. I was a better match maker than I expected. She married Maxi.

Will they ever let a man into their club?

You know, I could never tell if Maxi is a boy or a girl, so maybe? But anyone as pretty as Maxi gets the title princess.

What about the rest of the girls? All the girls are still a family and at the time of our departure, they were all back home at the castle, including the blue-haired girl.

So, don't worry about the girls. They have each other and they each have their string of men— they're immortal— they don't need men. They only want men for one thing and nothing more. Sorry guys, these girls don't fall in love easily— and don't think you can change them. If you choose so, travel there at your own risk. Although, I do wonder if the girls ever got their time machine to work. They probably lurk in every century, luring unsuspecting mortals. It's best to be nice to all girls; otherwise, the sirens will be displeased.

How many of them are there? That's a good question.

I was a little worried that the girls were being irresponsible with their magic. Felina insisted that she won't be recruiting any more members to the group; however, she doesn't speak for the rest of the girls. Since then, they'd added a couple more members to their club. They were at nineteen the last time I counted. In the case there is not enough magic to go around, my future will probably be running the playboy mansion — or castle, I should say — completely against my own will of course. Ok, I'm only kidding — I think. I'm actually not too worried. I'm confident the girls have everything under control. I think they'll be a family forever. I trust them.

. . . . .

What will I do now?

Well, the magic can heal but it can't fix addiction, so I'll be heading to rehab for a while. You can blame the orange-haired siren for that one. Out of all my experiences in the last thousand years, this is definitely the worst.

Rapunzel promised, she will help me get through it. So far, she is keeping her promise — because she wants to.

We are still living happily ever after.

* * *

 _Author's note:_

 _Thank you for reading!_

 _In case my husband is reading this, don't worry, I haven't gone crazy._


End file.
